Method and apparatus for cleaning carpets



I March 26, 1935. c MARcKRE I 1,995,513

Patented Mar. 26, 1935 V i I UNITED. STATES PATE NT orgies CARPET'S METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CLEANING- Charles D. Marckres, Des Moines, Iowa Application October 12, l 933,= Serial No. 693,298 7 4 Claims. (Cl. 15104) The objects of my invention are to provide a carpet cleaner of simple, durable and inexpensive construction, which may be readily, quickly and easily moved by an operator backwardly and forwardly over a carpet, and when so moved, with relatively slight downward pressure, will remove from the carpet light dust, grains of sand or the like embedded in the carpet nap, andfibrous material such as hair, wool or the like resting upon the top of the nap, and retain all of these materials within the cleaner, and without permitting any of the lighter dust particles thus removed from the carpet to escape into the aim-and Further to provide a carpet cleaner of this class in which the materials thus separated from the carpet and retained within the cleaner may be readily, quickly and easily removed from the cleaner by simply immersing in a suitable liquid.

A further object is to provide an improved method for cleaning carpets, which method consists in depressing the nap of the carpet and bringing to the surface of the carpet materials to be removed therefrom, and then employing the resiliency'of the carpet nap to throw the materials thus removed from the carpet upwardly and catching and holding said materials and fine dust thus removed from the carpet, and finally removing such materials from the cleaner, readily, quickly and easily without permitting the escape into the air of the fine dust thus removed.

My invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of the various parts of my improved cleaner, and in the method of removing dust and other materials from the carpet, whereby the objects contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figm'e 1 shows a top or plan view of my improved cleaner.

Figure 2 shows a central, longitudinal, sectional view of same.

Figure 3 shows an end elevation of same; and

Figure 4 shows an enlarged, detail, sectional view illustrating my improved method of removing foreign materials from a carpet.

Referring to the accompanying drawing, it will be seen that my improved cleaner comprises a frame consisting of two side plates 10 having pivotally connected therewith two rods 11, which are extended upwardly and toward each other and have a ferrule 12 at their upper ends to which a handle 13 is fixed.

Between these side plates 10 there is a series of transversely arranged bars, each of which comprises a body portion 14 having a longitudinal groove 15 on'its under surface and two fiat bottom edges 16 on its under'surface, the outer edges of which arerelatively sharp at 17 and from this sharp edge there is an inclined surface 18 eX-' tending upwardly and toward the longitudinal center of the bar, and between this inclined surface 18 and thebody of the bar there is a longitudinally arranged pocket 19. These bars stand spaced apart from each other, as clearly shown in Figure 2, and are rigidly fixed in the side frames. Preferably the outer edges of the two outer bars are inclined upwardly at 20.

In practical use with my improved carpet cleaner, I proceed as follows: I first provide'a receptacle in which there-is contained a liquid, which may be composed of one part gasoline and ten parts water.- I then dip the cleaner in this solution and the surfaces of the bars are made of such material that a thinlayer of this liquid solution 20 will adhere thereto.

I then press the cleaner slightly downwardly. into the carpet and rapidly move the cleaner backwardly and forwardly. over thecarpet to be cleaned. While'this is being done, the relatively sharp advance edges of the bars will press the nap of the carpet downwardly and in thedirection in, which the cleaner is being pushed. Hence, these sharpedges will penetrate into the'carpet almost down to the body of the carpet into which the nap is woven. This will cause material such for instance as grains of sand to be scraped toward the outer ends of the nap. It will also cause such materials as small wool fibers, hair and so forth to be scraped and rolled into small,

loosely united rolls, and then as the barproceeds over the carpet, the nap springs back to upright position as soon as a bar has passed over, and this upward springing movement of the nap throws the material removed from the carpet up- 4 wardly and rearwardly relative to the line of advance, and causes this material to be received into the pocket of the next following bar. So far as the fine light dust particles are concerned, these are also thrown upwardly and adhere to the liquid layer on the bars, and substantially none of this fine dust reaches the atmosphere above the cleaner.

In regard to the longitudinal groove 15, I have repeatedly demonstrated in practice that a very substantial quantity of the finer particles of dust are thrown up into this groove by the nap and caused to adhere to the cleaner within the central portion of the groove. Then when a relatively small area of carpet has thus been gone over,

the operator dips the cleaner into the vessel containing the said liquid, and all of the dust and other material contained therein is instantly deposited within said liquid and a new layer of dust retaining liquid is thereby applied to the cleaner.

My improved method of carpet cleaning is as follows: I first spread a thin layer of liquid of a character to which du-st, etc-.-,will readily adhere, over the entire surface of the cleaner. Illustrated in Figure 4 at A. I have had satisfactory results in practice in this feature of my invention by forming the bars of clear soft pine woodand dipping the cleaner in a solutiorrof' t'en parts water and one part gasoline. The wood causes the layer of liquid to adhere to it for a sufficient length of time, and the liquid mixture causes the dust,

etc. to adhere to the liquid coated surfaces-which do not come in direct contact with the carpet.

I then move the cleaner over a carpet, and press downwardly on the cleaner, thus causing thesharp advance edges of the bars to press the nap of the carpet:downwardly'andalong the line of advance ofthe'cleaner, as illu'strated in Figure 4: As thesebars successivelypass-over'a given area I of carpet, these advance sharp edges scrape particles of sand; crumbs, etc. to'the surface of the carpet. Atthe same time they cause parti- 30' cles of wool, threads, hairs, etc. to form into loosebar; Also the raising movement of the. nap after ly connected rolls on the surface of the carpet.

Then after onebar passes over a given area ofthe carpet, the nap of the'carpet is released" and springs upwardly, thus throwing: said mate rialseon" the surface of the carpet upwardly beyond the sharp edge of the adjacent approaching being released by one'barcarries the said materials 'the'reonup high enough so that the approachin'g sharp edge of the following: bar will pass'under it,2an*dlsaid materials will be forced 7 into the pockets and against the liquid coated:

cludingfine dust', to adhere tosaid surfaces and not riseupwardly beyond the bars or be shaken off: to return-tothe floor;

' After a shortperiod of use, the cleaner is dipped'i in a vessel'containing said'liquid,which performs The function of the double function of removing all of the material deposited upon the cleaner and supply a new liquid layer. The arrow inFigure 4 shows the direction in which the cleaner is advancing over the carpet.

I claim as my invention:

1. A carpet cleaner comprising a frame, a handle secured to the frame, a series of bars arranged substantially parallel with each other slightly spaced apart'and havingetheirlower surfaces projected below the frame, the lower side edges of thebars being inclined upwardly and toward the longitudinal center of the bar, and adapted to have-a coating of liquid applied to the bars for dust collecting purposes.

A carpet'cleaner comprising a frame, a handle secured to the frame, a series of bars arranged substantially parallel with each other slightly spaced apart and having their lower surfaces projected below the frame, the lower side edges of the bars being inclined upwardly and toward the longitudinal center of the bar, andadapted to 'have "a coating of liquid-applied to the bars fordust collecting purposes, the sides of the'bars being formed 'with pockets extending longitudinal ly of :thebarsfor collectingghea'vier particles.

3. A carpetcleai'rer comprising. a frame, a liandlesecured-to the frame, a series of bars arrangedf substantially parallel with each other slightly spacedhapart and having their lower surfaces projected below the frame, the lower side-edges of' the bars beinginclined upwardly and toward the longitudinal center of the bar, and'adapted to have a coating of liquid"appli'edtothe bars'for dust collecting'purposes, the bottom surface of each bar being formed with a'longitud-inally arranged groove for-the purposes stated 4. Acarpetcleaner comprising aframe', a handle secured to the frame, a seriesof bars arranged substantially parallel with each other slightly spaced; apartand-havingtheir lower; surfaces have acoating of-liquid-appliedto-the-bars for dust collecting purpcseasaid barsbeing made ofsoft wood to which a layer ofwa'terorother-liquid will adhere. v V

' CHARLESD: MARGKRES: 

